Providing correct belt tension is absolutely essential for proper operation of belt driven equipment. If there is too little tension, the belt can slip, thereby resulting in an inefficient and inaccurate drive train and a significant level of noise. On the other hand, if the belt tension is too great, excess heat and friction may develop, thereby resulting in a short belt life, reduced bearing life and even shaft breakage.
There are many existing designs for tensioning the continuous belts of belt driven systems. Generally, these may be classified into one of two groups: automatic tension designs or manual tension designs. Automatic tension designs include those that use the weight of the motor or a spring force to tension the belt. The automatic tension designs are often complex, bulky and are limited in their ability to correctly tension the belt. Manual designs include slide bases and jack screw designs. When using manual tension methods, service personnel may inadvertently over-tension the belt which may result in the short belt life and/or reduced bearing life problems discussed above. Moreover, when adjusting the belt tension using the manual tension method, it is often necessary to obtain the assistance of another individual. During this relatively complex operation, one of the pulleys in the belt assembly must be loosened, moved, held in position and then reDocket secured while simultaneously maintaining the desired belt tension. Moreover, after the pulley has been re-secured, the tension in the belt is often at an improper level.
Thus, there is a need for a tensioning device which easily and accurately applies the correct amount of tension force to a continuous belt, increases the life of the belt and minimizes the potential for damaging the system components during a belt tensioning operation.